They are most definitely a competitor and probably not even on Ethereum's radar.
Not on Ethereum's radar? It seems to me that pre-Maidsafe Ethereum was all about Decentralized Autonomous Organisations and contracts, and now its all about Decentralized Apps and making a new internet. Don't get me wrong - I like the expansion to cover more different things, but I suspect it was partly inspired by Maidsafe.
Yes, I was more referring to the willingness to work with Maidafe in general, which I think not a chance.